Major project development assessment processes
Research report
Appendices B to F are only available online in the downloadable files below.
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Major project development assessment processes - Research report (Word/Zip - 1985 Kb)Key Points
- While Australia already has in place the building blocks of a sound development assessment and approval (DAA) regulatory system, there is substantial scope to comprehensively overhaul the framework in Australia for major projects.
- The DAA processes of Australian jurisdictions and select countries were benchmarked for this study. A number of leading practices were identified which should be implemented by all Australian jurisdictions.
- DAA areas that require attention include:
- unnecessary complexity and duplicative processes
- lengthy approval timeframes
- lack of regulatory certainty and transparency in decision making
- conflicting policy objectives
- inadequate consultation and enforcement
- regulatory outcomes falling short of their objectives.
- Specific reforms proposed include:
- a five-point plan to move towards a 'one project, one assessment, one decision' framework for environmental approvals, that includes strengthening bilateral assessment and approval agreements between the Commonwealth and the States and Territories
- limiting the use of 'stop-the-clock' provisions
- States and Territories improving coordination between their regulatory agencies
- institutional separation of environmental policy development from regulatory and enforcement functions
- enshrining the principle that Ministerial approval - unless a deemed approval - should not be reviewable by review bodies other than on judicial review grounds
- establishing statutory timelines, together with appropriate safeguards, for key decision points in the DAA process
- expanding the use of Strategic Assessments and Plans where practical to do so
- requiring that approval authorities publish reasons for their approval decisions and conditions
- improving third party opportunity for compliance actions.
- Any regulatory system is only as good as its weakest link. Partial reform efforts are unlikely to achieve meaningful improvements.
